Armidale Remembered and Participant After-Journeys: Interview Perspectives

Abstract

Extended one-on-one interviews with former workshop participants comprise the data for this chapter. The private interview meetings were arranged, as practicable, while the author was travelling on leave, and allowed a depth of responsively targeted inquiry and sharing from participants. Each one was drawn out on his/her memories of the Armidale experience and its remembered qualities, and the course of their lives and work through the decade that followed. The chapter distils and quotes from these interviews with 11 (by then) very experienced individuals in influential roles. Nearly all had gone on to work extensively with small helping/enabling groups, and shared freely from their unfolding journeys and current emphases. As well as adding to the picture of direct and indirect effects of the original workshops, the intimate circumstance and quality of the interview sharing convey each one’s lived journey and active reflection on their work and relationships. The interviews were around a full hour in length, each one transcribed. As distilled in the chapter, many short passages and phrases have been retained and quoted to convey nuances of meaning and style from each speaker. The rich and evocative content also lends itself to an exercise for students and other inquiring readers that could add to its value.